PBSP conference showcases solutions to societal woes

A PAINT that can knock out pollution from the air, a mobile digital laboratory for public schools, farmers supplying vegetables directly to a popular fast food chain, and a free Web site development workshop for small businesses — these are just a few of the sustainable solutions that companies presented during the country’s first “SOLB!: Sustainable Solutions Fair” held recently at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

With the changing landscape of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), companies now respond in different ways to address more complex social issues. These expressions of corporate citizenship include philanthropy, strategic social investments, responsible business practices, and inclusive business.

Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) organized the forum and exhibit dubbed “SOLB!: A Sustainable Solutions Fair” to present these whole range of CSR expressions, and provide companies a platform to showcase their own sustainable solutions as well as the opportunity to network and form linkages to work together for a common cause.

These innovative solutions do not only address a societal problem but more importantly, contribute to the attainment of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of goals agreed upon by UN member states which aims to end all forms of poverty in 2030.

The milestone event was participated in by speakers from First Gen Corp., Inc., Jollibee Group Foundation, Nes- tle Philippines, Inc., Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., PLDT, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Unionbank of the Philippines, United Laboratories, Inc., XEPTO Computing, Inc., and the United National Development Programme. The exhibitors, on the other hand, were Citi Philippines, East-West Seed Company, Inc., Jollibee Group Foundation, Unionbank of the Philippines, PLDT SME Nation, Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., Meralco Foundation, Energy Development Corp., XEPTO Computing, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Water Alliance and Zero Basura Olympics.

In the forum which tackled various themes such as “Sustainable Cities, Healthy People,” “Innovations that Support Education and Livelihood and Enterprise Development,” and “Inclusive Business,” the speakers shared how they came up with solutions to help address issues/problems or lessen its adverse impact. Given its significance in development, the biggest challenge in sustainability today could be energy security. With the issue on climate change taking center stage in global affairs, countries including the Philippines are seeing the importance of clean and renewable energy sources.